Melme - Conus, Gualandris, Hottarek

From April 2 to May 7, 2021, the collective Sonnenstube presents MELME, a collective exhibition of contemporary art inside the charming hunting lodge Torre Enderlin immersed in the Parco Tassino in Lugano. MELME shows the works of the artists Sophie Conus, Diego Gualandris, and Maya Hottarek. Sonnenstube, with its exhibitions, aims to bring together different linguistic, geographical, and cultural realities and is a means to relate different artistic practices. With MELME the encounter between artistic practices will take place between ceramics, installation, and oil painting. The works were chosen and produced for the MELME exhibition by the artist's dialogue with each other, creating a narrative line that lies between the imagery of science fiction and horror. It is in this narrative that we can find the paintings of Diego Gualandris, which are composed of layered images reminiscent of space and at the same time microscopic observations, the sculptures of Maya Hottarek that seem to come from popular craftsmanship of an unknown culture, and finally, the installations of Sophie Conus made of fabric that evokes organic textures. Sophie Conus (1997) Lives and works in Geneva where she is a graduate of the WorkMaster at HEAD. She is co-founder of Collective Disgrace, a multidisciplinary art collective and part of the off space Limbo in Geneva. Her artistic practice ranges from plastic to sonic exploration. In both cases, the artist focuses particularly on the notion of texture and the sensory approach to art. Diego Gualandris (1993) Lives and works in Rome, graduated in painting in 2018 at the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo. Since 2017 he is part of Altalena, an independent research project. In his artistic practice, he prefers oil painting on large format canvases, using complex glazing and layering of images. In 2020 she received the prestigious international award of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in New York. Maya Hottarek (1993) Lives and works in Biel, graduated this year, earning an MA at the Institut für Kunst in Basel in 2021. Her artistic practice interacts with various media and usually revolves around themes such as the complex interactions between the individual, nature, society, and economy. She mainly works with ceramics and sound, sculptures, and installations. In 2018 he won the Prix Kunstverrein in Biel.